[Take Action] Trump’s Bump Stock Regulations Can Turn 500,000 Gun Owners into Felons
Please contact Pres. Donald Trump and tell him the implementation of his proposed bump stock regulations would turn 500,000 gun owners into immediate felons. You can email him, tweet at him or call him at (202)-456-1111 or (202)-456-1414.
Not a GOA member yet? We need you more than ever right now!
Illegal Bump Stock Regs to go beyond Johnson, Clinton, and Obama in Anti-Gun Reach!
Dear Friend:
When campaigning, Donald Trump said he would respect and honor the Second Amendment.
Instead, he continues to push ahead on bump stock regulations which would turn 500,000 gun owners into felons. And the regulations would arguably do the same for the millions of Americans who own semi-automatic rifles.
This is in addition to signing the “Fix NICS” infested omnibus bill that will send millions of new names to the national gun ban list.
Let’s start with the obvious: Trump’s proposed regulation — currently open for comment — would make possession of all bump stocks illegal.
The regs would define bump stocks as “machineguns.” And, under the Hughes Amendment (18 U.S.C. 922(o)), every “machinegun” manufactured after May, 1986, is banned for civilian use with no grandfather clause or no grace period.
This means every bump stock owner immediately becomes a felon, subject to a $250,000 fine and 10 years in prison.
How many bump stocks are there? 500,000? 800,000? No one really knows.
But how many do you think are going to turn in their bump stocks before this regulation goes into effect?
Make no mistake about it: This is a level of hatred for the Second Amendment that neither Lyndon Johnson nor Bill Clinton nor Barack Obama evidenced.
Clinton’s semi-automatic ban — as odious as it was — didn’t criminalize pre-existing semi-automatic owners.
Trump’s Regulations Can Affect AR-15s
But there’s another problem: If the proposed regulations can erroneously deem AR-15/bump stock fire to be “automatic fire,” then a future anti-gun administration could easily deem AR-15s as full automatics under those circumstances.
After all, under 26 U.S.C. 5845(b), any firearm that can be “readily restored” or “converted” to fire automatically IS a “machinegun.” Period. End of story.
And, as with bump stocks, there would be no grace period or grandfather clause for post-1986 semi-automatic rifles.
So please contact Donald Trump and tell him that the implementation of his proposed regulations would turn between 500,000 and 20,000,000 law-abiding gun owners into immediate felons.
You can email him, tweet at him or call him at (202)-456-1111 or (202)-456-1414.
Sincerely,
Michael Hammond
Legislative Counsel
P.S. We’re in the middle of a vast gun control battle at the federal and state levels. Could you chip in $20, $30, or $50 to help GOA in the fight for our 2A rights?